Saturday, September 13, 2008

Pulau Ubin and New Asia Bar

Many people don't realize that Singapore is not just a city, but a tropical archipelago with much more to offer then just the shopping and eating. =)

So today my roomate and I decided to explore Palau Ubin, about 15 minutes by bumboat from mainland Singapore. Most of the island is also conserved as a nature preserve so there is really lush greenery and tropical feel. You can see banana trees, bamboo, and rock quarries with blue water pools. But what most people go for is to rent bycycles to ride around the island and eat seafood in a rustic atmosphere. Less then 100 actaully live on the island, and looking at their houses is a real throwback in time. A time where life was a lot slower and simpler. Many of the residents have taken to selling tourist bottles of water around the island. It is a nice place to go to get a little exersize and lots of mosquito bites! A friendly reminder that you are indeed in tropical South East Asia not just another urban metropolis. Another small reminder that I am indeed getting old, I could barely manage bicycling! My quads were so sore post island adventure...and are currently still so sore...might actaully have to stretch tonight.

Now to backtrack to yesterday...so after having a relaxing day at home just doing housework, a couple friends and I decided to get dressed up and go to dinner and then check out one of the nicer bar's in town, the New Asia Bar located on the 72 floor of the Suisshotel so you get a really nice view of Singapore at night. Anyway, dinner was really good at Chijmes at Insomnia, then we continued our night at the New Asia Bar.

The three of us were a very diverse group, me looking like I'm Indian, my friend who looks ethnically Chinese, and my Caucasian American friend. The interesting thing here is that we were all American...however, even at a bar, my Caucasian friend was the only one that was considered 'western'. A Chinese man who was from Hong Kong came up to talk to my friend because he was dared by his Caucasian friends from London that he couldn't talk to a 'Western' women. Surprise surprise I thought to myself...we are all Western...but of course we don't look it. Scince when did going to a bar become a sociological experiment? My race and ethnic studies friends would have a field day with this.

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